The earliest expressions of hip-hop music first surfaced on the streets of New York back in the 70s, and since then the early waves of iconic artists have had a solid base established in the East Coast area of the United States. However, the controversial tradition of feuds in the hip-hop scene started with the meteoric rise of West Coast-based artists in the late 80s and early 90s.
What followed was a back-and-forth rivalry between multiple artists of both sides dissing each other in numerous songs. Nevertheless, things escalated further from words to actions, as the beef famously claimed lives on both sides, most notably those of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.
Those days are long gone, and although conflicts still happen in the hip-hop world, they are, thankfully, squashed in more civil manners. Up next are three of the most famous ongoing hip-hop feuds nowadays.
1. Lil’ Wayne v. Birdman
The 47-year-old rapper Birdman is a pioneering figure in the southern U.S. hip-hop scene. Based in New Orleans, Lousiana, he founded the Cash Money Records label in 1991, signing Lil’ Wayne at age nine that same year and taking him under his wing from then on.
Despite being like a father figure to Wayne, tensions began to rise between the mentor and mentee back in 2014 when his latest album “Tha Carter V” was scheduled for release. The studio delayed the release of the album several times over, to the point where “Tha Carter V” has yet to see the light of day.
In January 2015, Lil’ Wayne would file a $51 million against Cash Money and Birdman for withholding his album. Later in April, an unknown suspect shot at Wayne’s tour bus, although nobody was injured in the incident. The shooter would turn out to be Peewee Roscoe, a rapper affiliated with Birdman and label partner Young Thug.
Although Roscoe claimed that Birdman was directly involved in the attempt, Lil’ Wayne and the veteran rapper reportedly made peace at Drake’s New Year’s Eve party back in January.
However, Wayne is not taking the lawsuit back, as he has been more than vocal with his thoughts about Cash Money during performances and even filed a second lawsuit against Universal Music Group for $40 million in recent months.
2. Joe Budden v. Drake
The most reported yet the dullest beef currently developing in the hip-hop world is that between the Harlem veteran rapper Joe Budden and the “Champagne Papi” Drake.
It all started earlier this year with the release of Drake’s latest album ‘Views.’ Following a lengthy rant about the Canadian artist’s lack of creativity on his INTPL podcast, Joe Budden took to the studio to drop some hot diss tracks on the former Degrassi star.
Drake has paid little to no attention to Budden’s diss attempts, briefly referencing the beef on a collaboration track with French Montana a couple of months ago. However, reports about Eminem’s involvement in the feud brought the conflict back to life earlier last month.
A recent joint performance with Eminem during Drake’s ‘Summer Sixteen Tour’ concert in Detroit put those rumors to rest though, with Joe Budden still silent about the whole issue.
3. Drake v. Meek Mill
Drake’s beef with Joe Budden is neither his first nor his only ongoing one, as the feud between the ‘Hotline Bling’ interpreter and Meek Mill is still unfolding after more than a year.
The Philadelphia-based rapper first started the conflict back in July 2015 by claiming Drake did not write his own songs, further alleging that the Canadian artist used a ghostwriter for a song featured in the album ‘Dreams Worth More Than Money’ by Mill.
Later that month Drake would start an exchange of diss tracks with the ‘Charged Up’ and ‘Back to Back’ songs taking shots at Mill. Meek would respond with his own ‘Wanna Know’, ‘War Pain’, and ‘All the Way Up’ over the span of a year.
The latest developments in the beef have seen Drake taking direct digs at Meek Mill during his “Summer Sixteen Tour” concerts with strongly worded addresses.
Drake called Meek out during one of his shows in D.C., followed by a brutal performance of ‘Back to Back’ at a show in Mill’s hometown of Philadelphia last week.
Source: Hot New Hip Hop